Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Weekender – Water

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to Latin American and the Caribbean.  
 
March 22nd is the U.N.-sponsored World Water Day, which helps to examine the importance of water in our daily lives and the challenges communities face globally in order to gain access to such a vital substance.  This year’s theme focuses on the “closely linked an interdependent” relation between water and energy including how they affect economic development and wealth worldwide.

The 2009 documentary Water Which Makes Us Alive looks at how residents of the Peruvian community of Andamarca manage the limited supplies of water that are in their area.  Their system of self-regulation aims to ensure that they can all have a fair access to water for all and helps in the survival of the Andamarca area. 

According to a synopsis of the documentary from Culture Unplugged Studios, “This spiritual, social and political system of water management is an example for managing water resources for irrigation in a participatory, democratic way that respects the ecosystem…Without the sense of unity that underlies this collective management, the inhabitants would break their roots and the community would be transformed into a dead place.

Unfortunately Water Which Makes Us Alive cannot be embedded though we have included a link to the very insightful and interesting film.  This link is available under the page break as well as a short embedded video on an innovative billboard in Peru that converts air into potable water. 

Click on this link if you would like to watch Water Which Makes Us Alive.

 

Video Source– YouTube user NewsyTech


Online Sources - Culture Unplugged Studios, World Water Day 2014

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